During an appearance on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) laid out the urgent case for protecting abortion access in the United States in the wake of a draft majority opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court emerging that would undo national rights to abortion.
Pointedly, Klobuchar remarked as follows:
‘I think the question that voters are going to be asking, when 75 percent of people are with us on this, is who should make this decision? Should it be a woman and her doctor, or a politician? Should it be Ted Cruz making this decision, or a woman and her family? Where are woman’s equal rights?.. If we are not successful in passing this in the Senate… then we go to the ballot box. We march straight to the ballot box. And the women of this country and the men who stand with them will vote like they’ve never voted before.’
The Senate should immediately abolish the filibuster and pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, codifying Roe v. Wade as law and protecting the right to an abortion from the stolen Supreme Court majority.
— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) May 3, 2022
Soon, the Senate will be voting on proposed legislation to make abortion rights specifically established portions of federal law, since currently, abortion access hinges on judicial decision-making regarding already established law rather than explicit federal legal provisions. Democrats don’t appear to have enough votes on their side to pass that proposal, but Klobuchar looked to other opportunities for action, including the midterm elections. When voters in a recent poll were asked to choose between a theoretical “pro-choice Democrat” and a “pro-life Republican” in a hypothetical general election match-up, the pro-abortion rights Democrat led by 13 percent.
Protect Roe v. Wade. Codify Roe v. Wade. Ensure reproductive freedom in all 50 states.
— Charlie Crist (@CharlieCrist) May 7, 2022
That same recently released poll indicates that only a minority of Americans support overturning the court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, which is what the draft majority opinion would do — and yet, Republicans are still pressing onward. Shamefully, some Republicans are resisting even discussing the substance of the draft document. Instead, they’re focusing on that it was leaked, although that’s really not the main issue here. Across dozens of states, millions of people could soon lose access to abortion, no matter the health or social and economic consequences. Overturning the Roe decision would (at least in part) transfer the responsibility of handling abortion access to state leaders — and in certain states, measures are already in place that would automatically ban most abortions if the Roe decision is undone.
When the Senate votes to codify Roe next week, I will vote yes.
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) May 6, 2022
Asked about apparent support for abortion restrictions among members of the public in certain GOP-led states, Klobuchar added as follows:
‘Why should a woman in Texas have different rights and a different future and a different ability to make decisions about her body and her reproductive choices than a woman in Minnesota? How can that be in this country that we’d have a patchwork of laws?.. It’s especially going to fall on the backs of poor women, women of color. This is just wrong. And that is part of why Justice Blackmun — who was a Republican-appointed Justice, no less — made that thoughtful [Roe] decision, looked at the Constitution and said the right to privacy includes the right for women to make a choice like this.’
Watch Klobuchar’s comments below:
Klobuchar on why letting states choose what rights women have is a bad idea: "Why should a woman in Texas have different rights and a different future and a different ability to make decisions about her body and her reproductive choices than a woman in Minnesota?" pic.twitter.com/yCMT5wNDXY
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 8, 2022
